Photo credits: Daniel Boud

Cats can get bad press because of their unfortunate tendency to prey on indigenous birds and animals. Nevertheless, they are interwoven into human culture. Ancient Egyptians worshipped them, and felines have plenty of famous champions including Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Audrey Hepburn, Taylor Swift and the celebrated genius poet T.S.Eliot. He wrote Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats a collection of light rhymes written for his godchildren in the 1930s which was the inspiration behind Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock musical Cats. 

I was lucky enough to see the latest production at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC. It’s always fun when the actors wander among the audience and stream down the theatre’s aisles to access the stage. It just never gets old.

There was a big cast and a nine-strong orchestra which made me pleased to see so many deserving artists gainfully employed. I was reviewing the show which always makes me overthink and I wondered whether Cats should be called a dancical rather than a musical because the choreography drives the dramatic arc and produces energy and spectacular routines to explore the range of cat characters. The music and dance numbers would have taken many hours of rehearsal, huge reserves of energy and technique gained over many years of training to perfect, and there was I sitting in judgement of it. It’s easy to take immensely talented souls like the triple-threat cast of Cats for granted.

You can read my full review of Cats at Lyric Theatre, QPAC, here.